This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Engine starters for modern automotive vehicles are commonly configured as a Bendix-type starter in which rotation of the starter motor causes a starter pinion, which is mounted on the output shaft of the starter motor, to translate along its rotational axis into engagement with a ring gear that is coupled to a flex plate or a flywheel. There are several drawbacks an engine starter of this type is integrated into a vehicle that uses a start-stop control algorithm to turn the internal combustion engine off when the vehicle has no velocity (relative to the road that it is operating on) and the vehicle brake pedal has been depressed for a predetermined amount of time. One drawback concerns the relatively long amount of time that is needed to operate the engine starter. Another drawback concerns the durability of such engine starters, given that the frequency of engine starting is many times more frequent in when a vehicle is operated in a start-stop mode.